View of frozen Cherry Pond and the Presidential Range | Photo by John Compton

We’ve found New Hampshire’s best-kept secret—the Presidential Range Rail Trail—and winter is the perfect time to visit it. With a long snowy season, generally running between mid-December and early April, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy its spectacular views on a pair of Nordic skis or snowshoes.

We were pleasantly perplexed and insatiably curious: On our TrailLink website, we discovered that the Columbia Trail in northern New Jersey had the highest user rating that a trail could have: five out of five stars, as well as 70 firsthand reviews when most trails on the site boast only a handful.

A section of the Allegheny River Trail near Emlenton, Pa. | Photo by Tom Bilcze

Personable, kind, decisive: These traits made Jim Holden both a good teacher and a trail visionary. While a professor of computer science at Clarion University of Pennsylvania more than two decades ago, he recognized the importance of preserving disused rail corridors for public use.

Unparalleled natural beauty? Check. Welcoming towns with friendly people? Check. Unique historical sites and a smooth, easy riding surface? Check, check. The 32-mile Allegheny River Trailin northwestern Pennsylvania seemingly has it all for a perfect getaway. And it's on the cusp of being even better; peak fall colors are expected to arrive in early to mid-October; the trail, lined with oaks, maples, elms and other tree varieties will be spectacular.

True to its name, within minutes, travelers on the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail are spirited away from lively downtown Columbia, Mo., and taken into the forest. Although the city is so close at hand, it's forgotten in the company of wild turkeys, deer and a flash of orange as a fox darts across the path. The trail—just a tad shy of nine miles—is serene with the soft crunch of feet on crushed stone, the rustle of leaves overhead and the gentle gurgle of its many creek crossings.

A dusky red barn sits atop a grassy slope as wispy white clouds stir in the sky above; a placid cow strolls by and a creek runs playfully beneath a small wooden bridge. This scene, seemingly from some sweet dream, is the everyday reality on the Macomb Orchard Trail. About 30 miles north of Detroit, Mich., the rail-trail is pure rural Americana, a paved ribbon winding through rolling farm fields, vivid green tree canopies and friendly Midwestern towns.

For those whose hearts call out for adventure as the summer begins in earnest, the fully paved, sinuous Great Miami River Trail irresistibly beckons. Nestled within western Ohio's Miami Valley, the 86-mile trail winds through woodsy parks beneath the soft rustle of tall, broad-leafed trees, quietly glides into the rich green and gold hues of farm country, and resonates with all the vibrancy and excitement of Dayton at its center.

Sheboygan County is rural, small-town America—no doubt about it. This is Wisconsin dairyland, situated halfway between Milwaukee and Green Bay, where the county seat is the Bratwurst Capital of the World. It's not the type of place that one would expect a thriving walking and biking culture, which made it the perfect candidate for a grand, national experiment that began in 2005. And in Sheboygan, the county's largest city, the Shoreland 400 Rail Trail was a little trail designed to have a big impact on changing modes and minds on transportation.

"It isn't the longest bike trail in the city, but it is probably one of the most important," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, clad in shorts and running shoes on a bright August day last summer before an energetic crowd celebrating the opening of the Dinkytown Greenway.

Spring is upon us, and perhaps no region is more thankful than the South, hit especially hard by an unusually brutal winter. Residents of The Big Peach are more than ready to head out on the Atlanta Beltline to soak up the warmer weather. In a city once known as Terminus, the BeltLine trail network is a re-envisioning of its railroad past for a new wave of pedestrian and bike-friendly urban design.